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‘Muslims Chennai’s early settlers’
- Muslims were one of the earliest inhabitants of Chennai and they made it their home as early as the 13th century AD.
Making a presentation on Muslims and mosques of Madras, as part of the Madras Week celebrations organised by Prince of Arcot, Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali at Amir Mahal, documentary film maker S Anvar said the Venetian merchant traveller Marco Polo had recorded in his travelogue that 13th century Mylapore had a lot of Muslims and they considered St Thomas, an apostle of Christ as a saint.
Duarte Barbosa, a Portugese Chronicler said during early 16th century that Muslims were looking after the tomb of St Thomas in Mylapore now Santhome. There is also a view that the city itself got its name Madras from ‘Madrasa patnam.’ Saidapet, a prominent neighbourhood of Chennai’s original name was Saidabad. Arcot Nawab Saadathulla Khan built a mosque here in the early 18th century and named the locality as Saidabad. - CHENNAI
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Friday, August 21, 2009
‘Muslims Chennai’s early settlers’
